Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company, has entered into a key partnership with Tempo, a blockchain network focused on payments infrastructure, in a move aimed at accelerating the adoption of stablecoin-powered payments and settlements across Africa.
The collaboration is expected to strengthen cross-border payment efficiency by integrating Tempo’s blockchain settlement network into Flutterwave’s Send App and Flutterwave for Business (F4B) platforms, creating an alternative payment rail designed to reduce transaction costs, shorten settlement times, and improve access to global liquidity.
The initiative comes at a time when businesses and individuals across Africa continue to face high remittance costs and delays associated with traditional cross-border payment systems. According to the World Bank, remittance fees to sub-Saharan Africa average about 7 percent, exceeding both the global average of 6 percent and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal target of 3 percent.
Beyond the cost burden, international transactions often depend on multiple correspondent banks and foreign exchange intermediaries, resulting in settlement delays that can stretch over several business days. These delays frequently affect cash flow, liquidity management, and working capital for businesses and households.
To address these challenges, Flutterwave plans to integrate Tempo’s Layer-1 blockchain network into its broader payments infrastructure. The addition will complement Flutterwave’s existing Polygon-based stablecoin settlement capabilities and provide users with more options for moving funds across selected payment corridors.
Once fully deployed, the integration will enable wallet-to-wallet transactions using stablecoins such as USDC and USDT, offering faster transaction processing, more predictable fees, and reliable network performance.
Tempo’s infrastructure will function as an additional settlement layer within Flutterwave’s multi-chain ecosystem, expanding the range of settlement options available based on operational requirements and corridor-specific needs.
According to both companies, the integration is designed to support high-volume transaction environments. Tempo’s network features rapid transaction finality and is aligned with ISO 20022 messaging standards, a global framework increasingly adopted by financial institutions to improve interoperability and payment data exchange.
The companies noted that the development reflects a broader shift in the global financial ecosystem, where stablecoins are increasingly being deployed as practical payment tools rather than purely crypto-native assets. Their growing use in payments and settlements is helping financial institutions and technology firms improve transaction speed, reduce costs, and expand access to liquidity across markets.
Speaking on the partnership, Olugbenga Agboola, founder and chief executive officer of Flutterwave, said the collaboration aligns with the company’s vision of building a more connected and efficient global payments infrastructure.
“We are building the infrastructure for how money should move in a modern, connected world—compliant, scalable and designed for real-time global commerce,” Agboola said.
“Our partnership with Tempo allows us to expand our existing payments ecosystem by adding additional practical stablecoin settlement rails. We are working together to make these solutions everyday tools that will enable faster, more predictable and cost-efficient cross-border payments for businesses and individuals across Africa. This helps remove friction from the system while expanding our multi-rail approach to global payment connectivity.”
Dan Romero, head of go-to-market at Tempo, described the partnership as an opportunity to modernise payment corridors that have historically relied on costly and slow fiat-based systems.
“Flutterwave has built one of the most extensive payments networks in Africa.We are excited to work with their team to expand stablecoin settlement across cross-border corridors that have traditionally depended on expensive and slow fiat rails, and bring these capabilities into production on Tempo,” Romero said.
